A Game of Risk
by flowerchild3286
Summary: "You're not a white knight, Sasha. You're not trying to protect me. This is about you and your issues."
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine. And for one I went with more drama than the writers.

A/N: I was trying to write smut but it wasn't working, so I wrote angst instead.

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><p>Payson had come to think in terms of good-Sasha-days and bad-Sasha-days. Today was a good-Sasha-day. He wasn't avoiding her; he didn't tense every time their hands brushed. They joke and laughed together, enjoying the camaraderie that had defined their relationship before that stupid kiss. They were working on her beam routine, and she had made more progress with it in forty-five minutes than in the last three days together. Those three days had been bad-Sasha-days.<p>

She hated bad-Sasha-days. They had started after his return from Romania, but Payson had never figured out the cause. Sometimes she thought that maybe he hated her for what she said to him in Snagov. On bad-Sasha-days, he worked with everybody in the gym except Payson. He didn't look at her, he didn't touch her, and he barely acknowledged her presence when she spoke to him. On the rare occasion that he _did_ work with her on a bad-Sasha-day, they butted heads at every turn. He negated all of her suggestions and saw nothing in her execution but flaws. More often than not she lost her temper with him and they ended up having a screaming match in the middle of the gym. Nobody ever won those arguments. They just got pushed to the backburner until a good-Sasha-day rolled around and they could work without yelling, like they were tonight.

They were alone in the gym. The other gymnasts had all left half an hour ago, but Payson had stayed when it became evident that Sasha was actually willing to consider her upgrade suggestions. The changes went smoothly, mainly because Payson had already been working on them. It was a coping mechanism she had discovered months ago; when she wanted to upgrade a skill and Sasha was unwilling, she simply worked on her own in the annex. Then, on a good-Sasha-day, she would broach the subject again and he would agree. She had worked closely enough with him before Snagov that she knew what his thoughts would be, were he in a normal state of mind. When they did finally work together, the she would have the mechanics of the skill down and Sasha's expertise would help to make it competition ready.

He leaned against the beam as she landed her new dismount, a triple twisting gainer. Payson saluted and then turned toward him, surprised by how close they were. He was directly across the beam from her, resting his forearms against the apparatus as he grinned. She was momentarily stunned; the combination of his proximity and his gorgeous smile was too much for her.

"Payson, that was amazing," he said. Then a mischievous look passed across his face and his voice took on a teasing manner. "So, you've never done the triple gainer before tonight, huh? That's a very impressive learning curve."

Busted. Well, she wasn't going to own up to it. She shook off the daze that had captured her and leaned casually against the beam, slightly to the right of him, her posture mirroring his on the opposite side of the beam. She turned her head toward him, mentally taking note of the fact that his lips were only inches from hers, and replied, "I'm a very talented gymnast, Sasha. Why should you be surprised that I learn fast?"

"I'm not buying that innocent act, Payson. Stop working skills without me." He was half teasing and half severe. Payson refrained from pointing out that _he_ was the one unwilling to work together. She didn't want to ruin her good-Sasha-day by forcing the issue.

Somehow, they had moved closer together during their banter. Payson wasn't sure who leaned in, or if it had been both of them, but the inches separating their mouths were now mere centimeters. Sasha's eyes were on fire, reflecting all of the passion and arousal that Payson had long felt. Finally she understood his distance over the past few months—he was trying to prevent this. Their breaths mingled together and Payson's eyes drifted shut, waiting for the kiss that she knew was coming. She had wanted this for so long.

She felt the change in the air as soon as he pulled away. When she opened her eyes, Sasha was standing apart from the beam, his body rigid and his back turned toward her with a studied avoidance. Payson recognized his stance immediately. It was the picture of a bad-Sasha-day.

"Damnit, Sasha!" she said, slamming her fist against the beam with a loud _thwump_. "Why do you do this?"

"What?" he yelled as he spun around to face her. His eyes were narrowed in anger, but at least he was looking at her now. "Why do I do _what_, Payson?"

"This!" She indicated the space between them, knowing that it would explain everything. "You complained that I do skills without you, but how are we supposed to work together when you won't come near me? Is it really so bad to be attracted to me?"

"I'm not attracted to you, Payson. You're a child," he sneered. The derision in his voice hurt, but she knew she was right. She had seen the lust in his eyes.

He took two steps back as Payson walked around the beam. She came to a halt in front of him, crossing her arms and looking him square in the eyes, and asked, "So you weren't about to kiss me?"

"No." It was a weak denial; he couldn't even come up with an excuse to explain away the moment by the beam. She knew she had him. He wasn't strong enough to turn her down right now.

She didn't lunge toward him this time. She would not give him the opportunity to explain this away by saying that she had surprised him. Instead, she crossed the distance between them slowly, giving him the opportunity to step away. When he didn't retreat, she placed her hands upon his shoulders for support, rose up on her toes, and pressed her lips to his. For a heart-stopping moment he didn't respond, then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

Payson had never been kissed the way Sasha was kissing her now. Her first kiss with Nicky had been sweet and innocent, and her kisses with Max were full of desperation as they both imagined holding someone else. But this kiss, she was sure, was exactly how kissing should be. It was full of passion and desire and _love_. She could kiss Sasha forever.

It lasted only a few brief minutes. Far too soon Sasha was pushing her away, his face a steely mask of regret. It was clear in his eyes; he was rejecting her. He wouldn't deny that he loved her, but he would never accept her as an equal partner in a relationship.

Payson gathered together all of the pain that Sasha had ever caused her and used it to fuel her resolve. Putting on a cold façade, she said, "I don't care if you beat yourself up about this, Sasha, but stop taking it out on me. It's screwing with my training."

She held the act as she spun on her heel and strode out of the gym. She held it as she drove home. She held it as she sat through dinner with her family and brushed aside their concerns. She held it as she made her way to her bedroom and locked the door, and then she could pretend no longer. That was the first of the nights she spent crying.

It became a pattern for her. At night she would be wracked with sobs, giving into all of her pain, then the next morning she would gather together the shattered pieces of her heart and use them to form a mask of indifference. There were no more good-Sasha-days. They worked together like there was nothing wrong, but they never laughed, never smiled, and everyday Payson lost another piece of herself into the act. She thought she might hate him now.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: One very bad word in here.

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><p>Payson dominated at the Pacific Rim Championship. She had swept the golds, an achievement which had the media chittering, but the victory felt hollow. Of course she won; she had turned into the gymnastics robot that Lauren always accused her of being.<p>

Her win wasn't the only aspect of the competition that had the media in a frenzy. Gossip was flying about the reason for her haggard appearance and flat expression. She hadn't slept in weeks and hadn't smiled in even longer; she looked like hell and knew it. Her favorite of the current rumors was that she was dying of some horrible disease and her final wish was to compete at the Olympics. People were such idiots.

Her teammates knew that something was wrong—how could they not?—but they didn't know the reason. Even Lauren was worried enough to hover over her during practice. Lauren, Kaylie, and Kelly took turns watching over her, sending her concerned looks every twenty seconds as if their fretting would actually accomplish something. Kelly suspected the truth, so her efforts to help were slightly more successful than those of their teammates. She had surprised Payson their first night in Washington by crawling into bed with her and holding her as she cried. Payson got the impression that Kelly knew what it was like to spend the whole night crying.

Kelly had slept with her every night of the competition, which helped more than Payson ever thought it would. It felt rather like when her mom comforted her, except that for the first time in her life Payson had not confided in her mom. Kim and Sasha were friends, and Payson didn't want to destroy that. Enough had been destroyed already.

After a couple of nights spent crying against Kelly's shoulder, Payson had stopped. She had stopped crying, she had stopped caring, she had stopped feeling. She was nothing but an empty shell of a woman going through the motions of life.

Now she was alone in the deserted stadium, leaning against the low bar and dwelling on the memory of her fall. For the first time, Payson regretted the decision to have surgery on her back. She was happy in high school. She had missed gymnastics, but she was moving on and creating a new life. Now she had no life at all. If she hadn't gone through with the surgery, none of this would have happened.

She knew the moment he walked into the arena. She was so aware of Sasha that she could feel him across a crowded gym, much less an empty stadium.

"What do you want, Sasha?"

He came to lean against the low bar near her, their positions a similitude of that night on the beam. She vaguely wondered if he realized he was doing it.

"I'm worried about you," he said, gazing into the dark recesses of the stadium. They hadn't really looked at each other since they kissed.

She huffed out her scorn. "You're worried about me? Well, that's ironic."

He punched his palm against the bar, making it vibrate beneath their hands. "Damnit, Payson, I'm trying to protect you!"

"Well you're doing a shitty job of it. From where I'm standing you are the only one hurting me," she said, her voice completely dead. She didn't feel angry or sad anymore. She didn't feel anything at all.

"You don't understand what it would be like. This would ruin you."

Emotion was stirring within her; anger. Feeling again felt like reopening a deep cut, so she was eager to cut off the emotion and close the wound once more. "Can we stop pretending like this is about me? You're not a white knight, Sasha. You're not trying to protect me. This is about you and your issues, about _your_ reputation. If we're together then you'll be known as the coach who had an affair with his gymnast. You're not willing to take that risk. You don't think I'm worth it."

He didn't bother to deny it. Tired of the conversation, tired of it all, Payson pushed away from the bars and turned to leave. She only made it a few feet before she stopped.

"I'm moving to Denver Elite," she said, refusing to face him. He didn't deserve that much. "I'm tired of being treated like shit all the time. Marty's a good coach; I trust him." The implication was clear: she didn't trust Sasha anymore.

She was almost across the podium when he called out to her, "You would end up hating me. I would ruin your career and you would hate me for it."

Turning around, Payson met Sasha's eyes for the first time in weeks. "Don't you get it? I already hate you."

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><p>"Do you really have to go?" asked Lauren. Payson was packing up her locker as her three teammates bid her farewell. "I can't imagine the Rock without you."<p>

Payson felt a stab of guilt. Lauren had lost enough people in her life, she didn't need to lose one more. Then the guilt passed and she went back to feeling nothing. "I have to go. I can't be here right now. I just need to get away from the Rock for a while."

"You mean you need to get away from him." Kelly amended. Payson thought that Kelly would understand, but she sounded angry. Really angry.

"It's none of your business, Kelly."

"Like hell it is!" she shouted in return, tears gathering in her eyes. "You guys are the first team I've ever had and now you're just going to throw it all away. You're going to ruin everything because you fell in love with your coach!"

Lauren and Kaylie were looking at them in shock. "Is that true?" asked Kaylie. "Are you leaving because you have feelings for Sasha?"

Payson packed the last of her belongings into her gym bag and then straightened her back. "My feelings aren't the problem. His are."

Lauren looked horrified. "You mean he—"

"No," Payson interrupted. "That's not what I meant. He's never touched me. He loves me, but until he's ready to admit that, I can't be here."

Kaylie and Lauren took the revelation in stride, not bothering to question the veracity of Payson's statement. It was obvious to anyone who bothered to look. Kaylie asked the question that was on everybody's mind, "What if he never does?"

"Then fuck him. I'm not going to sit around pining for him like some stupid little girl. I can't work here, so I'm going somewhere I can work. We could have been great together, but he's not willing to try then it's his loss. I'll move on and he'll be stuck with his regrets." With those words, Payson picked up her bag and left the Rock. She hugged each of her friends in the parking lot and then never looked back.

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><p>Marty wanted to talk to her before she started training. Payson found this very annoying; she didn't want to talk, she wanted to work out.<p>

"What's going on between you and Sasha?"

Payson barked out a laugh. Apparently Marty was more observant than she gave him credit for. "Nothing's going on Marty. That's the problem."

Marty frowned at her from across his desk. "You're going to have to be more specific than that, Payson. I don't know what that means."

She was tired of thinking about Sasha all the time. She was trying to escape this. "We can have this conversation once, Marty, and then I'm not talking about it again. I came here to get away from Sasha, I don't want to waste my time talking about him."

Marty nodded his agreement to the terms and Payson continued with a heavy sigh, "I was fine when it was just me. I was fine with unreciprocated love, I could deal with it. Then a couple of months ago I realized that he felt the same way. We fought, we kissed, he regretted it. He chose not to be with me. I'm not going to sit around and wait for a man who's not willing to take a chance on me, so I came here."

He ran his hand across his face, a clear sign of frustration. "God, Payson." There was a long pause. "You're not healthy. When was the last time you slept?"

She dismissed his concerns with a shrug of her shoulders. "I slept about an hour last night."

"You can't let this ruin you, Payson. You're better than this."

A sudden flash of memory made Payson laugh, then dissolve into giggles. There was the slightest ring of hysteria in her laughter.

Marty snapped his fingers twice in front of Payson's face, focusing her attention. "You're kinda scaring me right now. You want to tell me what's so funny?"

"Oh, God," she said as she struggled to control her mirth. "Back when the rumors first started, I guess Kelly believed them. She put on her normal bitch act at the exhibition party, but then she found me later and tried to show her concern with typical Kelly-style advice. She said, 'You know, screwing your coach is a quick way to ruin your life.'"

"Okay, Payson, you're going to have to walk me through this," Marty said with concern, obviously worried about her sanity. "I don't understand why that is funny."

She lost herself in another fit of giggles before she managed to answer him. "Who would have thought that _not_ screwing him would ruin my life?"

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><p>AN: And on that hysterical note….

Two things of importance: 1) I tried to get this across in the story, but in case anyone missed it, there was absolutely nothing sexual about Kelly and Payson sleeping together. 2) This is Payson's point of view, so don't assume Sasha actually thinks the things that she accuses him of.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Umm… dark.

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><p>The first of her hook ups completely ignored her after they had sex. Payson didn't care; she'd only said yes because he sort of looked like Sasha. The sex was horrible anyway. Still, it sucked that the guy she lost her virginity too was an ass who told all of his friends she was easy. Her first time should have been with Sasha.<p>

The next guy was better, at least as far as the sex went. She actually had an orgasm with him, but then he got all needy. He tried to call her his girlfriend, like screwing against the locker room wall was a good basis for a relationship. They had sex one more time and she dumped him before he even pulled out of her.

It wasn't long before she had a reputation as the gym slut. It was funny, really, considering how many times that she had derided Lauren for being slutty. Lauren had slept with one guy who she really cared about, but now Payson was balling half the gym. At some point somebody figured out that she only said yes to the fair-haired boys, and most of the other guys stopped trying. She made the rounds through everyone who remotely resembled Sasha before eventually settling with two. The sex was good and neither of them minded that she was screwing someone else or cared when she called them Sasha. Payson knew what she was doing was messed up, but she couldn't bring herself to care. It had been so long since she cared about anything.

It was only a matter of time before she got caught. Marty walked in on them while Derek had her shoved up against the wall of the storage closet. Derek was embarrassed as hell, even though he still had on most of his clothes. Payson wasn't wearing anything but her bra (leotards were hard to have sex in) but she wasn't embarrassed at all. She just put her clothes back on and resigned herself to a scolding.

Marty was waiting on the other side of the door while she dressed. As she passed him, Payson said, "You have horrible timing, you know. I was just about to come." He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat.

He yelled at her for over an hour. Payson sat stone-faced in front of him and didn't bother to defend her actions; it wasn't any of his business. She tuned him out and visualized her routines instead. When he finished yelling at her, Marty pulled Derek into his office to yell at him. Payson took advantage of the brief lack of supervision and found James. They left the building and had sex in his car.

Her mom was waiting for her when she got home. Marty had called her, of course. Instead of yelling, Kim tried to get Payson to open up and talk about her _feelings_. Didn't she realize that Payson didn't have feelings anymore?

"This isn't some desperate cry for help, Mom. I'm not having sex to fill a void in my life or some psychosomatic bullshit like that. I was horny, Derek was there." Payson had been lying to herself for so long that she almost believed it. She ignored the devastated look on her mom's face, brushed past her, and went to bed. She didn't want to deal with this right now.

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><p>It was impossible to distract Payson now; she ignored the rest of the world almost completely. So when Marty bellowed her name from across the gym, she never even wavered on the beam. She finished her routine and dismounted before turning to face Marty, who was at her side by that time. She hated her dismount now. It always reminded her of Sasha.<p>

"What do you want, Marty? I'm busy." Several gymnasts close by stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Marty didn't tolerate that kind of disrespect.

"I'm tired of this nonsense. I want you to get your ass back to the Rock and work this out!" he yelled, attracting the attention of the rest of the gym.

"It's none of your damn business, Marty," she said, not bothering to yell. What was the point?

"Like hell it isn't. What you do in _my_ gym is _my_ business." Payson didn't know why he was talking so loudly. It was like he was trying to make a scene. Well, if he wanted a scene she could give him one.

She raised her voice for effect rather than from anger. "So because you caught me having sex in the gym suddenly you have a right to tell me how to live my life? I make my own decisions."

"Do you?" he asked, "Because from where I'm standing it looks like you're letting him make all the decisions."

"He doesn't want me," she screamed, finally losing her temper. "He's made that very clear! Well, fine, if he doesn't want me then there are plenty of men who do."

"To hell with what he wants! To hell with what they want!" he cried, gesturing to the men around the gym. "What do _you_ want?"

"I want someone who is willing to take a risk on me, and he won't!"

Marty stepped closer to her, invading her personal space and lowering his voice to a dangerous growl. "Since when does Payson Keeler let someone else tell her what to do? Since when does Payson Keeler not fight for what she wants? If you want him then _fight_ for him. Go tell him to stop being such a stubborn idiot and _be_ with you."

Payson laughed, the same hysterical laughter from her first day at Denver Elite. "Fine," she said, "I'll go to the Rock. I yell at Sasha. It'll probably end up on YouTube. What do I care, my career's already ruined. Let's tell the whole damn world." She stepped back from Marty and raised her hands in the air, turning a slow circle to encompass the whole gym. "Let's tell them all about how I fell in love with my coach and it drove me mad. Let's tell the whole world that I screwed every guy in here trying to forget him."

"Don't give yourself so much credit, Keeler," someone shouted from the crowd watching them. "You only screwed half of us."

There was a tittering of laughter. Payson knew that Marty would personally find everyone of those that laughed and punish them. The boy who had cracked the joke would probably be thrown out of the gym.

"Fine. I'm done. If you want me to talk to Sasha so bad, I'll talk to him. Let's see if I can ruin a few more lives today." Grabbing her bag from its place on the side mats, Payson stormed out of the gym.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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><p>Kelly looked up when the door to the Rock crashed open. She was sure that what she saw a trick of her imagination: Payson was striding across the gym looking furious. This was doubly impossible. Payson was in Denver, not in Boulder, and she never got angry anymore. She hadn't been angry since long before she left the Rock.<p>

Payson glared across the gym at Sasha and stormed up the stairs to his office. He moved to follow her and so did Kelly. Kelly reached the door just after Payson did, only to be shuffled back down the stairs by Kim and Summer.

"Come on," Kim said, "Let's give them a chance to talk."

"What's going on here, Kim?" Summer asked, confused, "Why is Payson back? I thought you said that she went to Denver to get away from the Rock drama."

"Well, that was sort of true," she said as she hurried them across the gym to where Kaylie and Lauren were standing together.

Sasha reached the stairs and took them two at a time. Kelly winced when he slammed the door behind him, the sound echoing against the metal walls of the gym. For a very brief moment there was complete silence as the entire gym stopped to see what would happen. Then there was an explosion of sound.

It sounded like they were both yelling at each other at the same time. Kelly couldn't tell what they were saying, but she made out more than a few swear words.

"I guess Marty did his job," Kim muttered under her breath.

Lauren narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? What did Marty do?"

"He got her angry and he got her here. They need to have this fight."

Kelly turned toward Kim in shock. "Oh my God, you know!"

"Of course I know," she scoffed. "She's my daughter and he's one of my best friends. I've known longer than they've known."

"Know what?" Summer broke in. "Kim, what are you talking about?"

Kelly ignored their resident Bible thumper and asked, "So what did you do? How did you and Marty get her here?"

"I don't know what Marty did," she admitted. "My job was to get Sasha riled up."

"How'd you do that?" Lauren asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "The only way I know to piss off Sasha is to talk too much during practice."

Kim looked distinctively guilty. "I accused him of ruining Payson's life."

Something about Kim's expression made Kelly suspicious. "Do you believe that?"

"Yes."

"You don't really, do you, Mrs. Keeler?" asked Kaylie. "He's just trying to protect her. He doesn't want to ruin her reputation."

"He doesn't need to ruin her reputation," she spat out. "She's doing a pretty good job of that herself."

Kaylie was too naïve to accept the truth. "That's not true. Payson would never do anything to jeopardize her chance at the Olympics."

Kelly must not have schooled her face very well, because Lauren picked up on something. "What do you know, Kelly?" she asked. "You're hiding something."

She heaved a reluctant sigh before answering. "I've talked to some of the people at Denver Elite. Payson's earned herself a few nicknames since she switched gyms. The nicest of them is Put-Out Payson."

Kim whipped around to face her. "You knew," she accused. "You knew what she was doing and you didn't tell me?"

"What was the point? What could you have done to stop it, put her in a chastity belt?"

"Kim's right, Kelly," said Summer, "You shouldn't have kept something like that from her. It's Kim's job to protect Payson."

Kelly was about to knock Summer upside her bleach blonde head when Lauren interrupted her. "Umm, guys…"

"What!" Kim, Kelly, and Summer all shouted at the same time.

Lauren pointed to the office. "Do you think they know we can see them?"

Payson and Sasha had moved during their argument so that they were standing in front of the office window, and everybody in the gym was staring at them.

Kim was the first one to recover enough to answer. "I'm pretty sure they don't, but do you want to be the one to interrupt that fight to tell them?"

For a long while the five women on the floor stopped their argument and watched the one taking place upstairs. Payson and Sasha were still screaming at the top of their lungs, getting in each others' faces, and occasionally Sasha would turn away and Payson would jerk on his arm to engage him in the fight again. Kelly was legitimately worried that they might kill each other before the argument was over.

Whispers had broken out across the gym. Nobody other than the elite girls knew the reason for Payson's defection to Denver, and the rumors were flying with new ferocity. Some people thought that Sasha had assaulted her, but not many believed that was true. One of the more common rumors was that Payson caught Sasha and her mom together. A few people even thought that Payson and Kelly had a torrid affair that ended badly. Kelly had never negated that rumor; it was better for Payson than the truth.

All around the gym, people were trying to decipher Payson and Sasha's screams and figure out exactly what the fight was about. Then suddenly part of Sasha's words came through loud and clear: "…whoring around in Denver."

A slap rang across the gym, followed by a collective gasp. It was a toss up which was more shocking, Sasha calling Payson a whore or Payson slapping him.

Then the most shocking thing of all happened: Payson lunged at Sasha and kissed him. And he didn't push her away. They attacked each other savagely, looking like they were trying to hurt each other more than give pleasure. Sasha backed her up against the desk and hitched her leg over his hip and she slid her hands under his shirt. If things didn't stop soon they were going to end up having sex in front of the entire gym.

The gymnasts had broken out in catcalls and Summer's mouth was hanging open. "Kim," she said, grabbing onto Kim's arm, "You have to put a stop to this!"

"No. The fight's not over yet. They need to have this out." Kim's words proved to be prophetic, because as soon as they left her mouth Sasha pushed away from Payson. They were quieter now, but it was clear that they were still arguing.

Summer stomped her high heeled foot like a toddler and turned to face Kim directly. "What the hell is going on here? Payson and Sasha just…just…and you _let_ them! Is this why Payson left, because she was having an affair with Sasha?"

Kelly saved Kim the trouble of giving a very awkward answer. "She left because Sasha _wouldn't_ be with her. He such a stubborn idiot that he'd rather hurt himself and her than admit how he feels!"

Summer opened and closed her mouth several times and then stomped her foot again. "Well, I'm not going to stand here and watch this happen."

There was scattered applause as she left. She was a good manager, but she hadn't been a favorite among the gymnasts. Lauren started to follow her but stopped after two steps. She glanced up to the office at Payson and Sasha and then back at the door that Summer had just walked through. She nodded sharply to herself and said, "Payson's more important. I'll talk to Summer later."

They watched with bated breath as Payson and Sasha talked. They had calmed down after their passionate kiss and were no longer yelling. Payson was leaning against the desk, in the same spot that Sasha had left her, and he was pacing the room. They spoke for over half an hour before, finally, Payson held her hand out to Sasha and he took it. When he pulled her into his arms and kissed her the entire gym cheered.

Kelly had forgotten there were other people watching. "Do you think we should break this up?" she asked. They deserved to have a little privacy. There were dozens of people watching what should be a very special, very private moment.

"Yeah," said Kim, "I'll go talk to them. You three try to get the gym going again."

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><p>For the second time that day, everybody in Denver Elite was looking at her. Payson should be used to it by now; she had spent pretty much the entire day being stared at.<p>

"Payson, what are you doing back here?"

She looked around to find Marty. He was approaching her cautiously, as if she would run away if he moved too fast.

"I'm training, Marty. It's been a long day and I just want to get back to work." There was no questioning her exhaustion. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she was swaying just a little bit where she stood.

"That's the part where I'm fuzzy," he said. "I thought I sent you back to the Rock."

Payson pulled her hair out its messy ponytail and redid it, pretending like there was nothing unusual about the situation. "What did you think was going to happen, Marty? We would kiss and make up and then the whole gym would break out in a song and dance number about sunshine and kittens? That's not real life."

He ran a hand across his face, a nervous habit of his. "What happened, then?"

She mounted the beam and then said, "We worked things out. But that can't change the things that I've done or the things he's said, and it can't change the fact that he's thirteen years older than me. We can't go back to the way things were. I'm staying here until the Olympics are over. That is if I'm even allowed to go to the Olympics."

"Of course you're going to the Olympics," he said. "You're the best gymnast in the country, probably the best in the world."

Payson scoffed. "You think this is all going to stay in the gym? Everyone knows that I've been sleeping around, and I wasn't kidding about YouTube earlier. Dozens of people just watched me dry hump Sasha against his desk—"

"Christ, Payson, stop saying things like that!"

"—so I'm sure someone was recording that. My DOD might not be high enough to overcome my reputation."

He ran his hand across his face again. "So what do we do?"

"I keep training and we see how things go. That's just the way life works." With that, she ended the conversation and started working. If she worked hard enough she just might be able to undo a little bit of the damage she had done.

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><p>AN: Why Kelly's POV? Because if I wrote the fight the language would have bumped me up to an M rating. They weren't nice to each other.

And, yes, this was the end.


End file.
